Why have cotton when you can have silk? (Clarins Eau Dynamisante Satin Finish Body Oil)

Member Name: carly_pussycat

Product:	Clarins Eau Dynamisante Satin Finish Body Oil
Date:	18/06/07 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smell is nice and matches their perfume, not overly oily

Disadvantages: Soft skin effect doesn't last

I was given this product to test when I decided to be a member of The Handbag Beauty Bible’s testing panel. Amongst other things, the book is aimed at people who want to make informed decisions before making expensive beauty purchases. I am one of these people so I was quite happy when I received an expensive looking Clarins body oil in my testing package.


EAU DYNAMISANTE SATIN FINISH BODY OIL

I love body oils, but not just any old one because some are really greasy. I can’t stand Johnson’s horribly greasy Baby oil, my favourite is Palmer’s Cocoa Butter moisturizing oil (chocolate scented!)

This oil comes from the Eau Dynamisante range by Clarins, which is their aromatic range based around the matching fragrance. It is a relatively new addition to the Clarins range which claims to promote soft smooth and more toned skin by way of highly concentrated natural plant extracts. It contains all sorts of things that you would expect it to have, like Jojoba oil and Aloe Vera extract to soften, Ginseng and Thyme to stimulate and tone, Vitamin E to prevent free radical damage (which amounts to slowing down/stopping signs of aging), and aromatic essential oils of Lemon, Patchouli, White Thyme, Petit Grain and Rosemary for the scent. So it certainly has the potential to work wonders.

The packaging is as you would expect it with Clarins: smart and attractive yet functional. It comes in a smart glossy box with the clear red bottle inside. It looks attractive, and on first glance you get a bit worried thinking you’ll be using a glass bottle with oily hands in the bathroom; but Clarins are clever and have made it LOOK like glass when it’s actually plastic. You can see inside the bottle that the oil’s actually quite watery looking.


USING THE OIL

The instructions tell you to apply it to totally dry skin after a bath or shower and massage it until it’s absorbed; so that’s what I did.

Spraying the oil out is easy because the bottle is a simple spray top without being pressurised. This is an advantage near the beginning of the bottle because it comes out in exactly the right amount – very little. However, I would imagine near the end it might be slightly more difficult as you’d have to angle the spray so that the little straw on the end of the pump was getting the remaining oil.

I frequently have dry skin on my legs so I decided to test this oil there. It was easy to spread on my skin and a little went a very long way. There was little effort involved in the ‘massaging until absorbed’ because although it wasn’t totally gone, the oil was so lightweight on my skin that it felt thin enough to get dressed almost as soon as I had applied it. Apart from this quick-absorbing action I must mention the smell (especially seeing as it’s one of the main selling points, being from their Eau Dynamisante fragrance range) which is amazing! For me, this was the best thing about the product. It is everything it claims to be in this department: invigorating, refreshing and aromatic. It’s a very planty natural type smell without smelling like a hippy’s joss stick shop – gently aromatic, zesty and uplifting – definitely something to indulge in during the deep dark winter months. It’s like the sort of scent you’d want to burn in an oil burner to gently scent a room, the lemon is quite noticeable but it’s still not the main focus because all the essential oils make themselves known.

Immediately after applying the oil my skin feels silky soft with a very thin layer of oil which is slightly visible but in an attractive way – it gives you that subtle sheen that creates the illusion of super-hydrated model’s legs. I dressed immediately after applying this and didn’t feel uncomfortable like my clothes were sticking to me or the oil was rubbing off.


CLAIMS

As with all Clarins products, they make various claims which can be found on the packaging or the website, so I’ll test them out here:

* Smoothes and hydrates skin, leaves it feeling silky smooth * Unfortunately the silky smooth effect (for me) does not last beyond a couple of hours. Once the oil had totally absorbed I actually found that I lost the silky effect. This is acceptable if you choose this oil for use on special occasions or daily use, but don’t expect it to give a rich and long lasting effect.

* Intensively tones ensuring a firmer, more supple texture * I’m afraid I didn’t use it for long enough to test this claim, but given its short-lived effects I would imagine this toning effect (if achieved) would only remain if you used it continuously.

* Protects against free radicals and helps preserve skin’s youthful qualities * With its Vitamin E content it would suggest that this might prevent free radical damage, because Vitamin E is one of skin’s best friends; but again, I did not use it for long enough to comment (and at 23 I wouldn’t expect to have aging skin anyway).

* Delicately fragranced, helps “set” the scent of the Eau Dynamisante body fragrance * I don’t own the fragrance but my mum does and they smell exactly the same so I would definitely recommend this for setting the scent of the fragrance. It would help the fragrance to last longer (both during the day and to prolong the use of the bottle). Although it’s not a strong overpowering scent I wouldn’t really recommend mixing a perfume on your chest/neck whilst wearing this anywhere on your body unless you were confident that they worked well together.


VERDICT

This oil costs £20.50 for the standard 150ml bottle, so you’d have to either be a massive fan of lightweight body oils, loaded with money, or only likely to use this on occasions if you decide to buy it. I would say that it will last you longer than a standard oil due to the fine misting spray and tiny amount required, but there’s no denying it’s still very expensive.

If you’re really truly against oil then you’d probably dislike this product anyway, but I think it’s probably the closest you’ll get to a regular body oil which is virtually non-oily (apart from things like Emu Oil & Bio Oil). The main selling point for me would be tied between the lightweight texture and the amazingly uplifting aromatic scent.

I personally would not buy this myself because it is too expensive for an effect that doesn’t last but it was a lot better than I had expected and I wouldn’t put anyone off buying it if they could justify the price (or ask for it as a present!)

Summary: Really nicely scented not overly oily, body oil but soft skin doesn't last